R. Kelly (birth name: Robert Sylvester Kelly) is serving time in prison for his racketeering and sexual abuse crimes, but recently, a report surfaced about an alleged drug overdose behind bars at the hands of prison staff. As a result, the disgraced former hip-hop artist was reportedly rushed to a hospital. Below, we’re breaking down everything we know so far about Kelly’s reported hospitalization.
Kelly is behind bars at FCI Butner Medium I in North Carolina. He is serving a combined prison sentence of 31 years after being convicted of nine counts of “a superseding indictment charging him with racketeering predicated on criminal conduct including sexual exploitation of children, forced labor and Mann Act violations involving the coercion and transportation of women and girls in interstate commerce to engage in illegal sexual activity,” according to the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York and Homeland Security Investigations.
AllHipHop reported on June 16, 2025, that attorney Beau B. Brindley claimed Kelly had overdosed in solitary confinement after allegedly being given extra medication by prison employees.
“That means that, within two days of the filing of his motion, Bureau of Prisons officials administered an amount of medication that significantly exceeded a safe dose and caused Mr. Kelly to overdose, putting his life in jeopardy,” Brindley said, according to the outlet. “They gave him an amount of medicine that could have killed him.”
According to AllHipHop, Kelly was hospitalized after allegedly being drugged by prison staff. In court filings from an emergency motion obtained by the outlet, the former R&B singer was placed in isolation on June 10, 2025, and was administered additional medication by staff members on June 12. The following morning, Kelly reportedly felt dizzy and experienced vision loss before being brought to Duke University Hospital.
It’s unclear what the alleged drug in question was.
Doctors kept Kelly under observation for two days after discovering he had been given a “life-threatening dose” of medication, the outlet reported. Furthermore, they found blood clots in both of Kelly’s lungs and legs, according to AllHipHop. After medical staff recommended surgery for Kelly, prison officials allegedly took Kelly out of the hospital.
